JP2006252228A - Print processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print processing system for accurately grasping users who have never printed a predetermined document, and printing only necessary copies of the document. <P>SOLUTION: This system comprises an image forming means printing out images; a print history management means managing a print history showing that which users printed which documents by the image forming means; and a print output determination means obtaining the print history from the print history management means and determining users who have not yet printed the predetermined document. The document is printed out for unprinting users among users of print output objects. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a print processing system that prints out an unprinted document using a user's print history.

  When internal / external meetings, conferences, and lectures (hereinafter referred to as “conferences”) are held, the meeting materials (hereinafter referred to as “documents”) for the attendees used in the conference usually host the conference. Prepared by the organizer.

  At this time, even if the organizer sends the document to the prospective attendee by e-mail or the like, if the prospective attendee does not print out the document in advance, the document for the unprinted person will be at hand during the meeting. It will not be in a state. The organizer usually prepares an extra document by printing out so as not to hinder the progress of the meeting due to lack of documents. However, when the attendee prints out a document and brings it to the meeting, there is a problem that the document prepared by the organizer prints out and is wasted.

  In order to efficiently distribute documents, an image forming method for printing out documents corresponding to the number of prospective attendees by answering whether attendees attend or do not participate in a meeting is disclosed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  However, in the above image forming method, it is not possible to send a document to a prospective attendee in advance, or it is possible to grasp the number of prospective attendees, but it is impossible to grasp the number of people who need a document. There's a problem.

JP 2000-137653 A

  Therefore, a technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a print processing system that accurately grasps a user who has not yet printed out a predetermined document and prints out only the necessary number of copies.

Means and actions / effects for solving the problem

In order to solve the above technical problem, according to the present invention,
Image forming means for printing out an image;
A print history management means for managing a print history indicating which user printed what document by the image forming means;
Print output determination means for obtaining a print history from the print history management means and determining which user has not yet printed a predetermined document;
A print processing system is provided in which documents for unprinted users are printed out from users to be printed out.

  According to the above configuration, the print history management means knows which user has printed what document. When printing out a document for a certain user from among users to be printed out, the print output determining unit determines whether the document for the user has been printed or not printed. If it is determined that the document for the user is not printed, the document for the corresponding user is printed out. Therefore, the user who has not printed the target document is accurately grasped, and only the necessary number of copies are printed.

  When the number of copies that have already been printed out is greater than the number of copies that are to be printed, the print output is not performed or such a warning message is issued.

  According to the above configuration, since the print output is forcibly terminated or notified, it is possible to prevent useless print output and to know why it is so. A feeling can be given.

  The print output executor tries to print out to the extent of other users mainly when the print output executor hosts a meeting. In order to manage when, where, what kind of meeting, and who is scheduled to attend, an information management server apparatus for managing various information related to the meeting is often installed. Therefore, when such an information management server device is installed, the information related to the print output target user is acquired from the information management server device in which the information related to the conference hosted by the print output performer is stored. .

  If at least the prospective attendee and the start time of the conference are registered in the information management server device, user information attending the conference can be obtained using the information registered therein. Then, it is possible to print out the minimum necessary number of copies excluding the number of users who have already printed out before the printout performer performs printout.

  A user to be printed out is specified by at least an employee number, an e-mail address, a MAC address, or an IP address.

  Hereinafter, a printing processing system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a print processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an operation procedure executed in the print processing system of FIG.

  In FIG. 1, a print processing system 1 includes a plurality of information processing terminals 100, an information management server device 110, a plurality of image forming devices 130, a print history management server device 140, and a LAN that connects them by wire or wirelessly. And a network 120 such as a dedicated line such as (Local Area Network) or a public telephone line.

  The information processing terminal 100 is a client PC that is individually assigned to each user including a print output performer who is a meeting organizer. The information processing terminal 100 includes a display, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage unit including a hard disk drive, a RAM, and a ROM, a data input / output control unit, a network control unit, and an operation unit as an information input unit. And.

  The information management server device 110 is a server PC that manages the schedule of each user including the print output performer who is the conference organizer and the reservation information of each conference room. The information management server device 110 also includes a display, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage unit 111 including a hard disk drive, RAM, and ROM, a data input / output control unit, and a network control unit. In the storage unit 111 of the information management server device 110, for example, the names of meetings and lectures inside and outside the company, the date and time of the meeting, the venue, the organizer, the prospective attendee, the name of the document used, or each user is uniquely defined. Various information such as user identification information such as employee number, e-mail address, MAC address, or IP address that can be identified in a specific manner is stored. The CPU (central processing unit) of the information management server device 110 obtains a print history from a print history management server device to be described later and serves as print output determination means for determining which user has printed out a predetermined document. Used.

  The image forming apparatus 130 is a digital multi function peripheral (MFP) such as a copying machine or a printer provided with image forming means capable of outputting a document such as an image or a document based on image data or the like.

  The image forming apparatus 130 includes a CPU (central processing unit) that controls the entire apparatus, a printer that outputs documents such as images and documents, a scanner, a storage unit 131 that includes a hard disk drive, RAM, and ROM, and data input. An output control unit, a network control unit, an operation unit, and a display unit are provided. A CPU (central processing unit) of the image forming apparatus 130 is used as a counting unit that counts the number of printed output sheets.

  The operation unit as information input means is a touch panel that can display and input various information such as characters and numbers, such as user specifying information for specifying each user including a print output performer, an image, etc. Used as information input means for inputting the number of output sheets. The display unit is a display unit including a liquid crystal panel or the like.

  The print history management server device 140 is a server PC that stores and manages information related to the print output printed out from the image forming apparatus 130. The print history management server device 140 also includes a display, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage unit 141 including a hard disk drive, a RAM, and a ROM, a data input / output control unit, and a network control unit. . In the storage unit 111 of the print history management server device 140, for example, which user, including the print output performer, when, what document, what number of copies, and how many copies are output from the image forming device 130. Print history information is saved. Note that such print history information can also be configured to be stored in the storage unit 131 of the image forming apparatus 130.

  Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG. 2, when the meeting document is distributed in advance by electronic means such as e-mail, the print output performer (that is, the meeting organizer) selects other plural documents. An operation procedure executed in the print processing system when a document for a general user (that is, a meeting attendee) is printed out will be described.

  In step S100, the print output process is started.

  When the print output executor tries to print out, input / acquisition of user specifying information is requested in step S102. When executing a copy job, it is necessary to input user specifying information from the operation unit of the image forming apparatus 130. When executing a print job, it is necessary to input user identification information from the operation unit of the information processing terminal 100. As described above, the user specifying information is a user specifying code or a character string for uniquely specifying a print output executor to be printed out or each attendee scheduled to be printed out on behalf of the user. Character string information stored in the information management server device 110 by acquiring the character string information of the information processing terminal 100 that is the origin of the print job and the character string information of the logged-in person from the information processing terminal 100 If it matches, it is converted into a user specifying code and used as user specifying information. If they do not match, execution of the print output is rejected.

  In step S104, whether to print out just for yourself (that is, whether to enter the normal print output mode in step S140), or whether to print out other attendees other than yourself (that is, to enter the print history reference mode) Is selected. It should be noted that the print history reference mode is selected only when it can be determined from the user specifying information obtained in step S102 that the print output performer is the meeting organizer and the print job is the meeting material. Can be possible.

  In step S106, in order to execute print output in the print history reference mode and grasp the number of print outputs, input / acquisition of user specifying information of other attendees other than himself / herself is requested. When executing a copy job, it is necessary to input user identification information of a corresponding attendee from the operation unit of the image forming apparatus 130. When executing a print job, it is necessary to input user identification information of a corresponding prospective attendee from the operation unit of the information processing terminal 100. As described above, the user specifying information is a user specifying code or a character string for uniquely specifying a print performer to be printed out or an attendee who has not been printed in advance. Character string information stored in the information management server device 110 by acquiring the character string information of the information processing terminal 100 that is the origin of the print job and the character string information of the logged-in person from the information processing terminal 100 If it matches, it is converted into a user specifying code and used as user specifying information. If they do not match, execution of the print output is rejected. In this way, the user who is the target of the print output, that is, the unprinted attendee is specified based on the user specifying information input or acquired.

  In step S108, the print history information stored in the storage unit 141 of the print history management server device 140 is searched, and an unprinted attendee specified in step S106 or a specially authorized specific user (for example, Whether the meeting secretary or the secretary of the meeting organizer has printed the corresponding document in advance.

  From the search result in step S106, information indicating who the user has already printed out is obtained. Therefore, the number of users who have already been printed out is compared with the number of prospective attendees.

  If the number of users who have already printed out is greater than the number of attendees, the print output process ends in step S150.

  On the other hand, if the number of prospective attendees is greater than the number of users who have already been printed out, in step S112, print output processing for unprinted output users is performed. At this time, when the print processing system further includes a print number management means for managing the print output number for each user by a user code or the like, the print output number can be distributed to the corresponding user. . In addition, even a user who has not yet performed printing may not perform printing for the user who determines that printing is not necessary.

  In step S114, after the print output process is completed, the document is locked so that no more unnecessary print output can be performed.

  In step S116, the print output process for the unprinted output user is completed.

  When the normal print output mode is selected in the print history reference mode in step S104, it is determined whether or not the document is locked (step S116).

  If the document is locked because the necessary number of documents have already been printed out, the print output process is terminated in step S132. At this time, a message such as “print output is terminated because no more print output is wasted” is displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus 130 or the display display of the information processing terminal 100. be able to. Even when the lock is applied, the lock can be released and the print output can be performed only when the number of people who are expected to attend increases from the originally planned number. In this case, it goes without saying that user information of a new attendee must be input before the print output process is performed.

  If the document is not locked, a normal print output process is executed in step S140.

  Note that the conference organizer itself does not necessarily have to be a print output executor. A delegate who prints out on behalf of the conference organizer in response to the commission of the conference organizer (for example, a member of the secretariat or the conference organizer) It goes without saying that the secretary of the person or the like may become the print output performer.

  In addition to the above embodiment, it goes without saying that in step S110, the number of printed document copies may be compared with the number of prospective attendees.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a print processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a flowchart executed by the print processing system of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

1 Print Processing System 100 Information Processing Terminal 110 Information Management Server Device 111 Storage Unit 120 Network 130 Image Forming Device 131 Storage Unit 140 Print History Management Server Device 141 Storage Unit

Claims (5)

Image forming means for printing out an image;
A print history management means for managing a print history indicating which user printed what document by the image forming means;
Print output determination means for obtaining a print history from the print history management means and determining which user has not yet printed a predetermined document;
A print processing system in which documents for unprinted users are printed out from users to be printed out.   The number of copies for the user who has already printed out is greater than the number of copies for the user to be printed out. The print processing system according to 1.   The print processing system according to claim 1, wherein the information related to a print output target user is acquired from an information management server in which information related to a conference hosted by a print output performer is stored.   6. The print processing system according to claim 5, wherein at least an attendee of the meeting and a start time are registered in the information management server. The print processing system according to claim 1, wherein a user to be printed is specified by at least an employee number, an e-mail address, a MAC address, or an IP address.

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